Untitled

Person/Family Name Frederick Douglass American, 1818 - 1895

Artist/Maker Headley & Reed American, 1890 - 1895

Date11/1/1894

MediumCabinet Card

Dimensions4 1/4 × 6 1/2 in. (10.8 × 16.5 cm)

Donor credit lineEstate of James E. Reed

Object number1996.21.54

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionPortrait of Frederick Douglass, Black abolitionist, writer, and orator, a most influential man in changing societal views toward slavery. Douglass has white hair, beard, mustache, and is smiling slightly. Douglass was the most photographed American in the 1800s, and this is one of only four portraits taken of him by Black photographers. It is said that Douglass sought out James E. Reed to photograph him when he visited New Bedford in 1894, not long before his 1895 death.

Cabinet card; albumen print mounted on white card.Exhibition History'Look Pleasant, Please': Early Portrait Photography in New Bedford" (NBWM, January 16 – September 7, 2026) "Sitting in New Bedford" (NBWM, June 2011-January 2013)ProvenanceJames E. Reed, descended in the family to granddaughter, Mrs. Jean P. Evans; New Bedford Whaling Museum, 1996

On View

On view